Dear Everybody:
The big news today was, of course Epstein-Epstein-Epstein, in part because Trump and his people so desperately want the story to go away:
--This is because they keep doing stuff that keeps it alive.
--First, they disappeared that photo of Trump with the girls in bikinis. Then Todd Blanche went on Sunday morning TV to try to justify it, saying, "The absurdity of us pulling down a photo, a single photo, because President Trump was in it, was laughable."
--Kirsten Welker: "There were a number of photos that were pulled down after being released." Todd Blanche: "That’s because a judge in New York ordered us to listen to any victim if they have concerns." Welker: Why was the photo with Trump taken down?" Blanche: "You can see in that photo there are photos of women. We learned there were concerns about them." Welker: "Are you saying those women are victims of Epstein?" Blanche: "No, that’s not what I’m saying."
--Now they’ve reinstated the photo and are claiming none of the Epstein victims were in the photo.
--Kristen Welker: "Is any information about President Trump redacted in any of the files that have or will be released?" Blanche: "No. Not unless it’s supposed to be redacted, under the law, which preserves victim information or any sort of privilege like attorney client privilege." (Attorney client privilege??? Where the hell did that come from? It’s not anywhere in the law.)
--Also, they definitely DID redact Trump’s name, and we have proof that they did in the victim’s testimony that had previously been released to Congress. In that document (the one where the victim said Trump liked to flick and suck her friend’s nipples till they were raw and had regular sex with her friend) Trump’s name appeared repeatedly. In the one the DOJ just released, Trump’s name was blacked out, as you can see in a side-by-side comparison of the two pages.
--Then Welker asked him about Ghislaine Maxwell. Welker: "Why was Ghislaine Maxwell moved just days after you interviewed her?" Todd Blanche: "That’s a Bureau of Prisons security issue that I will not talk about." Welker: "Did you have anything to do with it?" Blanche: "I am responsible for the Board of Prisons, so every decision they make lands on my desk."
--Todd Blanche told reporters repeatedly that the DOJ had released tens of thousands of pages. In fact, they released 9,675 pages (many completely blacked out.) There are 300,000 pages total in the Epstein files. He also admitted they had redacted politically-exposed individuals and government officials.
--The DOJ did not release any of the victim interviews. Instead they released photos of the cassette tapes of the interviews.
--Republican strategist Brian Darling said the botched release "added more fuel to the fire of controversy."
--Rand Paul" "I think it all should be released. I think it’s a big mistake. Any indication that there’s not a full reveal on this, it will just plague them for months--and months more."
--Timothy Snyder: "As a historian, I’ve looked at hundreds of thousands of pages of government documents. And I just have to say that, aside from being obviously illegal and clearly suggestive of some major crime, this ‘redaction’ business is not a position in which serious people or serious governments find themselves."
--George Conway: "There is no basis to withhold these images under the clear terms of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. None."
--Bill Kristol: "Yes, it’s a cover-up by Pam Bondi. But it’s really a cover-up for Donald Trump. Bondi is his agent."
--Rick Wilson: "Congrats, geniuses. You just rediscovered the Streisand effect: the harder you try to bury something, the more you guarantee the internet will dig it up with a backhoe and a marching band. Pulling files made people search harder. Restoring them didn’t end the story...it proved the cover-up. It’s now only a matter of time. This cover-up will not survive. They never do."
--Deep Throat in Watergate: "The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand."
Then Fox News ‘s Brit Hume tried to shut it down by posting: "The Epstein case is a dead horse. They should stop beating it."
--Harry Sisson: "Of course this is coming from a Fox News guy. Fuck you, buddy. The Epstein victims are demanding justice and accountability. Maybe listen to them and not your cult leader, okay?"
--The Miami Herald’s Julie Brown: "Nearly 1000 women and girls were sexually assaulted, including hundreds who were between the ages of 14 and 16. This is an insensitive and horrible take. There is so much you do not know. Investigate.
--Chauncey Gardiner: "Hillary’s emails were a dead horse. Benghazi was a dead horse. Hunter’s laptop was a dead horse. Trump’s child rape and trafficking over the course of at least fifteen years with his best buddy Jeffrey Epstein, proven by his own words and actions and documented in photos, videos, hand-drawn birthday cards, his own words, and sworn testimony, is no dead horse."
In other Epstein files news:
--Pam Bondi has disappeared off the face of the earth. That might be because the Democrats are planning on starting impeachment proceedings against Pam Bondi and seeking to hold her in inherent contempt.
--Ghislaine Maxwell wrote in her habeas appeal that 25 men had arranged civil settlements with Epstein victims.
--MuellerSheWrote: "Don’t forget, Biden’s DOJ was investigating uncharged third parties in Epstein files up to the last minute. Trump shut down the investigation, sent the files to DC, and fired the prosecutors. They went through them, redacted Trump’s name, then elected not to release them and closed the matter." (They also said there was no evidence that anyone else besides Epstein was guilty and that they would not be prosecuting anyone else. Then they redacted the names of the guys, claiming that it was because of ongoing investigations. Only one of the guys they specifically said they were investigating was Bill Clinton, and they DIDN’T redact his name, and in fact cooked up at least one photo to frame him.)
--Meanwhile, Clinton issued a statement demanding the release of all the Epstein files, saying, "We need no such protection."
--Mark Epstein (Jeffrey Epstein’s brother): "There’s a facility in Winchester, Virginia, where they’re scrubbing the files to take Republican names out."
--Aaron Rupar: "Trump has sustained substantial political damage, and he will sustain more. That’s not justice. It will, though, weaken a regime of fascists and abusers. And while it’s not enough, it matters."
The other big news of the day was that of another network caving shamelessly to Trump:
--60 Minutes had scheduled a report on CECOT, the infamous prison in El Salvador, where immigrants were taken (and still are). They had even released trailers of their upcoming report. Then hours before the show, the new head of CBS, Bari Weiss, yanked the segment.
--She said the story needed "additional reporting" and that they couldn’t air it without getting comments from Trump and the Pentagon.
--Steve Vladeck: "We couldn’t report on the sinking of the Titanic until we spoke to Captain Smith."
--Sharon Alfonsi, one of the reporters who did the story: "These men risked their lives to speak with us. We have a moral and professional obligation to the sources who entrusted us with their stories. Abandoning them now is a betrayal of the most basic tenet of journalism, giving voice to the voiceless."
--Marco Foster: "CBS is officially a mouthpiece for the Trump administration thanks to Bari Weiss."
In Turning Point USA convention news:
--Yesterday was Nikki Minaj’s turn to make a Freudian slip. In her speech, she said, "Young men, you have amazing role models like our handsome, dashing president, and you have amazing role models like the assassin JD Vance, our Vice President."
--Megyn Kelly said in her speech, "I’ve prayed so many times to Charlie, and to God." (Um hmm. It’s a cult. I told you.)
--Jennifer Erin Valent: "Pray to Charlie? This era has got to be a revelatory moment representing what is and is not true Christianity, and how a lack of discernment and discipleship has thrown the door wide open to deceivers and grifters."
--exlrrp: "After taking a selfie inside of a replica of the tent where Charlie Kirk was killed, Turning Point USA Fest attendees can consider purchasing Turning Point merchandise next door. Because selfies at murder sites tell people who you are."
--When it was JD Vance’s turn, he encouraged a big tent (of anti-semites and neo-Nazis), said "We don’t have to apologize for being white any more," and exclaimed, "We have been and by the grace of God we always will be a Christian nation."
--Thomas Jefferson: "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God...their legislation should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibit the free exercise of it," thus building a wall between church and state."
In Trump Is Apparently Determined to Name EVERYTHING After Himself news:
--At a speech at the Turning Point USA convention, Fox News host Jesse Watters said Trump told him he’s building the ballroom as a monument to himself "because no one else will."
--Former GOP Rep Nan Hayworth is all for the naming. "He saved the Kennedy Center! And for everything that man is doing, you know, I am delighted to see him put his name on anything he likes, and he can gild the whole thing as far as I’m concerned." (Oh, don’t give him ideas! Plus, by "saving" do you mean tanking ticket sales and causing an en masse exodus by artists, musicians, and theater groups?)
--David Shuster: "The Kennedy Center is being rechristened in the name of Donald J. Trump, a man whose chief contribution to art and aesthetics has been the gilding of the Presidency and the mass production of horrible vulgarity. This is not commemoration; it is appropriation and personal aggrandizement. Trump has slapped his name on everything from skyscrapers to steaks. Now he is vandalizing the cathedral of American performing arts. The Kennedy Center was created to honor President Kennedy’s belief that the arts are essential to a vibrant democracy--not to serve as a Trump billboard."
--Musician Kristy Lee is the latest artist to bail. She just canceled her appearance at the Kennedy Center.
--Trump is now also in the battleship-building business. Today he announced he will be building a whole new class of large battleships called "Trump Class ships" because it is a "cool-looking battleship." (Note: He also seemed to be under the impression that he had invented the word "battleship." Kind of like he invented the word "groceries.")
-- Retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery said that such ships have "zero tactical use," and in fact battleships were already obsolete by the end of World War II, let alone in an age of drones.
In historical news:
--Today’s the day in 1944 when the US troops in Bastogne, Belgium, found themselves completely surrounded by the Germans, who were trying to make one last desperate run for the coast in what became known as the Battle of the Bulge. The German commander sent an envoy with a demand that the Americans surrender. General Anthony McAuliffe’s answer instantly went viral, even in the days before there was such a thing. It was repeated by everybody, heartening the troops and the people back home, and it’s still famous today.
--His answer? "Nuts!"
--When Patton heard what he said, he ordered, "Keep everybody moving, colonel. A man that eloquent deserves to be rescued!"
--Four days later Patton showed up with his tanks to do just that, the Germans ran out of gas, the run for the coast failed, and the war was effectively over.
In resistance news:
--When Trump was first elected, Toby Marton, a comedian who expresses his activism by buying up domain names online and turning them into parody sites, says he could see the handwriting on the wall, so he is the proud owner of "TrumpKennedyCenter.org" and "TrumpKennedyCenter.com."
In other news:
--A third oil tanker has been seized by Trump.
--Thirteen employees are quitting the Heritage Foundation because its head, Kevin Roberts, refused to condemn Tucker Carlson for embracing the neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes, and they are telling him that in no uncertain terms. (Keep in mind that these guys all had to be pretty right-wing to work for the Heritage Foundation in the first place.
--Trump’s DOJ just sued the District of Columbia to end a ban on assault-style weapons, including the AR-15.
In good news:
--The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued Trump over his White House ballroom project, arguing that he failed to get necessary reviews before demolishing the historic East Wing.
--A new conservation agreement will preserve land with breathtaking desert vistas that inspired the work of artist Georgia O’Keefe and ensure visitors access to an adjacent educational retreat. (Once, when asked why she painted one mountain so often, she said, "God told me if I painted it enough, I could have it." Now, it looks like she is going to get her wish.)
--Former Special Counsel Jack Smith is starting a law firm with three other attorneys who investigated Trump and his supporters.
In Christmas news:
--Today I saw a pie chart of time spent wrapping presents: "Actual time spent wrapping the presents--5%. Time spent looking for the tape that was just in my hand--15%. Time spent looking for the scissors that I just had--20%. Time spent moving the cat--60%."
--I don’t know, that percentage for moving the cat seems a little low to me.
Best comment of the day, from Zack Beauchamp: "Trump’s first year has revealed that he’s pursuing an authoritarian agenda in an incoherent and incomprehensible manner. This style of politics...haphazardism...emerges from Trump’s own character--both his insistence on wielding untrammeled power and his inability to approach arguing it in a strategic or detailed fashion. The emergence of haphazardism should make us optimistic about American democracy’s survival, even if the short term is still quite troubling."
Keep calm and carry on,
Connie Willis